The Mississippi civil rights workers' murders was an incident of racial violence involving the abduction and murder of three civil rights workers in Neshoba County, Mississippi on the night of June 21–22, 1964. The victims were James Earl Chaney from Meridian, Mississippi along with Andrew Goodman and Michael "Mickey" Schwerner both of whom were from New York City. All three were associated with the Council of Federated Organizations (COFO) and its member organization the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). They had been working with the "Freedom Summer" campaign by attempting to register African Americans in the southern states to vote. This registration effort was a part of contesting over 70 years of laws and practices that comprised a systematic policy of disenfranchisement of potential black voters by several southern states that began in 1890. The three men had been arrested following a traffic stop in Meridian for speeding, escorted to the local jail and held for a number of hours. As the three left town in their car they were followed by law enforcement and others. Before leaving Neshoba County their car was pulled over and all three were abducted, driven to another location, and shot at close range. The three men's bodies were then transported to an earthen dam where they were buried. During the investigation it was learned that members of the local White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the Neshoba County Sheriff's Office and the Philadelphia, Mississippi Police Department were involved in the incident. The disappearance of the three men was initially classified and investigated as a missing persons case. The civil rights workers' burned-out car was found near a swamp three days after their disappearance. An extensive search of the area was conducted by the FBI, local and state authorities, and four hundred United States Navy sailors. The three men's bodies were discovered buried under an earthen dam on August 4, 1964, 44 days after their abduction and murder. The disappearance and feared murders of these activists sparked national outrage and a massive federal investigation led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and filed as Mississippi Burning (MIBURN), which was used as the name of a 1988 film loosely based on the FBI investigation. After the state government refused to prosecute, the United States federal government charged 18 individuals with civil rights violations in 1967. Seven were convicted and received relatively minor sentences for their actions. Forty-one years after the murders took place one perpetrator, Edgar Ray Killen, was charged by the state of Mississippi for his part in the crimes. He was convicted of three counts of manslaughter in 2005 and is serving a 60 year sentence.[5] Outrage over the activists' disappearances helped gain passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.[6]On June 20, 2016, federal and state authorities officially closed the case and dispensed with the possibility of further prosecution. wrote: